Page 103 of Leaving the Station
My heart speeds up as we walk there. Once we flop into the seats, things feel hesitant again. We watch Washington pass us by.
“It’s weird to think that we’ve lived in the same state our whole lives,” I begin, “when we come from entirely different worlds.”
“Is itthatweird?” she asks, and I know what she’s about to saywill be obnoxiously smart. “There are more than seven million people living in Washington. We were both raised in minority religions that want nothing to do with each other. You lived in the city and I lived in a small town. It’s a miracle that we’re here at all, together on this train, in this room.”
And before she can say anything else, I lean forward and kiss her. She grabs my waist, and I crawl over so that I’m on her seat straddling her. When that position becomes too uncomfortable, she pushes me up so we’re both standing.
We kiss like it’s the last time we’ll ever have the chance, which it very well may be.
The train lurches forward, and Oakley falls into me, pinning me against the wall.
“Should I pull down the bed?” she whispers.
I nod, and we both help transform the space from a living room to a bedroom in record time.
Oakley laughs, and I stare at her.
“What?”
She’s still giggling as she asks, “Should we use the top bunk or the bottom one?”
“I’m not going back on top,” I tell her, realizing how it sounds right after I say it.
I had sex with Alden less than a week ago, and I’m not ready to go through that again, no matter how much I might want to do it with Oakley.
“Can we try something a little different?” I whisper into her ear, and she nods, pulling me down for a kiss.
We both climb into the bottom bunk and hold each other tightly, making out for a long while.
“Can I take off your dress?” I ask her once we’re both warm from our shared body heat.
“Please,” she tells me, lifting her arms to help me out. She pulls off her turtleneck next, then her bra. She makes a move to take my shirt off, and I let her, but I keep my sports bra on. It’s what I’m most comfortable with right now.
She’s looking at me like no one has before, like I’m someone special and sacred. I’m looking at her with the same reverence.
Next come my pants; Oakley helps me slide them off, but the bunk is too short for me to stretch out all the way and in the confusion, she ends up knocking her elbow into my face.
“Are you okay?” she asks, stroking my cheek with her thumb while holding in laughter. I shove her back down on the bed until we’re both laughing so hard tears are coming out of our eyes for no real reason other than that it’s nice to be this close to someone you care about.
She holds me close and kisses my neck as she asks, “What was your idea?”
I bury my face into her shoulder. “Would you maybe want to... like...” I take a deep breath. The worst part will be asking for it, but then maybe it’ll be good.
Maybe it’ll be the best thing I’ve ever done.
“Could we show each other what feels good? Could we...” I can’t believe I have to say this. That I’m eighteen years old and so afraid to talk about my own body, about what I want. “We could masturbate in front of each other,” I finally manage to spit out.
Once I do, I want to spontaneously combust.
When I work up the courage to look at Oakley, she’s smiling. “That sounds good,” she says, reassuring me.
“Good,” I repeat with a hand on my forehead.
It’s cramped on the bottom bunk, but it works. Our legs bump into each other and we laugh and we watch each other’s hands move and it’s entirely different from how it was with Alden because we’re both in control of the situation.
When we’re done, Oakley grins at me as she lies back on her pillow, and I climb over to her, kissing my way up from her stomach to her neck to her mouth.
“Was that okay for you?” I ask her.
